Lagos-based delivery startup, Kwik Delivery (Kwik.delivery), has announced it has closed its pre-Series A financing round. The company successfully raised $1.7 million in equity from institutional and high net worth investors.
Romain POIROT-LELLIG, Founder & CEO of Kwik Delivery
“Kwik Delivery has demonstrated to customers and investors alike its efficiency as well as the relevance of its bold technology-based approach during a most challenging period” explains Romain POIROT-LELLIG, Founder & CEO of Kwik Delivery. “This financing round is enabling us to grow even faster and to disrupt and conquer new markets.”
Launched in 2019, Kwik Delivery is an on-demand, last-mile delivery platform that connects African businesses to independent delivery riders, dubbed Kwiksters. The Kwik platform is currently open to Kwiksters operating in Lagos State. The Kwik Delivery app is available on iOS and Android. Kwik Delivery is the trading name of Africa Delivery Technologies SAS.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Termii, a Nigerian communications platform-as-a-service startup has announced today that it has raised $1.4m in a seed funding round. The seed investment will be used to expand and introduce further messaging offerings across Africa, a year after Termii graduated from the YC.
“Many…businesses we started engaging said they required tools to effectively communicate and verify customers because they were losing money at those points. For us, we saw it was a bigger problem,” said co-founder Emmanuel Gbolade.
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Future Africa, an African early-stage VC company, and Kepple Africa Ventures, a Japanese yet Africa-focused VC, co-led the round. Acuity Ventures, Aidi Ventures, Assembly Capital, Kairos Angels, Nama Ventures, RallyCap Ventures, and Remapped Ventures are among the other investors.
Angel investors included Ham Serunjogi, the co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash, Josh Jones, the former co-founder and CTO of Dreamhost, and Tayo Oviosu, the co-founder and CEO of Paga.
With the new investment, the startup plans to expand in North Africa, with a physical presence in Algeria. According to the startup, expansion to Algeria was informed by the fact that Nigeria accounted for 76 percent of the company’s messaging transactions in the first half of 2021, while Algeria currently accounts for 15%.
With this new round of funding, Termii also hopes to benefit from the vast experience of some of its new investors, such as Oviosu and Serunjogi, who have also helped local businesses develop.
In 2017, the company secured investment from Lagos-based VC Microtraction.
The team at Termii. Image credits: Termii
Why The Investors Invested
Investment in Termii may have been inspired by the traction the startup has garnered over the considerably short period of time it has been in existence. Already, the startup serves over 500 fintech startups across Africa. It also claims it has over 1,000 businesses and developers who are using Termii’s API. The company further claimed it recorded a 1000 percent rise in messaging transactions and a 400 percent increase in annual revenue. The startup aspires to tap from the $3.6 billion B2C communications market estimated to grow 6% annually.
“Fragmented and unstable communication channels are one of the biggest challenges for the digitization of businesses in Africa. Emmanuel has proven that with his visionary goals and solid implementation of iterations on the ground, his team is unparalleled to build an innovative solution in this space,” Kepple Africa, Satoshi Shinada, a partner at the firm, said.
Apart from gaining traction, the startup’s participation in the Y Combinator accelerator programme of 2020 also influenced its latest seed fundraise. Termii has been in existence since 2017. Apart from the investment from Y Combinator and from Microtraction, a local venture capital firm, in 2017, this is its major investment since it was founded.
It’s also remarkable to note that most of the investors in this round invested as syndicates and are also mostly local investors. They are equally relatively new to the continent’s funding landscape. While Future Africa, co-founded by serial entrepreneur, Iyin Aboyeji, officially launched in 2020, Japanese VC Kepple Africa Ventures made its first investment in 2019. The US-based but Africa-focused firm RallyCap Ventures also started investing in Africa last year. Nama Ventures, all the way from Saudi Arabia, is surprisingly investing in a West African startup. The venture capital firm has mostly been active in the Middle East and North African region.
One key take-away from this investment is also that local investors are increasingly beginning to play active roles on the continent’s startup funding landscape. According to a recent report, North American investors represented 42% of the total number of investors that participated in VC investments on the continent between 2014 and 2019, followed by European based investors at 23%. African based investors accounted for 20%, followed by Asia-Pacific (8%) and investors based in the Middle East (6%). This, perhaps, shows why Africa lags behind other continents in terms of funding available to its startups ecosystem.
A Look At What Termii Does
Launched in 2017 by Gbolade Emmanuel and Ayomide Awe, co-founder Emmanuel’s experience as a digital marketer motivated him to understand the need for companies to provide outstanding communication platforms, which contributed to the development of Termii. The CEO offered consultancy services to these businesses and used emails to attract clients, but when he learned that this strategy was unsuccessful, he searched for other alternatives.
“That got me to start thinking about multichannel messaging. What it meant was that we needed to find how to allow companies to use WhatsApp, voice, SMS effectively,” he said. “And we had to make the process simple because in the African market, you can’t do complex stuff. You have to be as simple as possible.”
Even though Termii has been in existence since 2017, Emmanuel said the company only found it was fit for market in 2019 after collecting enough data from companies across multiple industries to understand what they really wanted.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
The need to unlock the potential of renewable energy to create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe is behind the launching of a $1.2 million innovation fund by the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF). The fund is aimed at strengthening the market readiness of emerging innovations, as well as secures financial, technical, and networking support for taking existing proven prototypes to scale.
The African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)
Solutions that reduce the negative impacts associated with the use of traditional cooking options at the household and institutional levels, build climate change resilience among communities and support productive uses such as water pumping, agro-processing, cooling, and refrigeration services are examples that the Fund seeks to support.
In applying, businesses and entrepreneurs will need to demonstrate how their proposed innovations will transform the livelihoods of low-income households through the creation of jobs and diversification of livelihoods. Under the Sustainable Development Goals, the world has set an ambitious target of ensuring universal access to reliable and sustainable energy by the end of the decade. But with half of the African continent without access to electricity, and two-thirds lacking access to clean cooking solutions, additional investment is needed to drive innovation and accelerate the uptake of modern energy.
The Innovation Fund builds on AECF’s Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Technologies (REACT) initiative, which was launched to support the private sector develop and expand its clean energy technologies to Africa’s rural communities. The Fund will invest in technologies that meet market needs as well as accelerating the development of existing solutions to better serve African communities and not technologies in the prototype stage.
Chief Executive Officer of AECF, Victoria Sabula, said: “The Innovation Fund is key to enhancing large-scale transformation within local communities. Investing in affordable and accessible renewable energy solutions can create jobs, grow economies, and build more sustainable livelihoods. Through the fund, we hope to unearth new ways that renewable technology – be it domestic, communal, or commercial – can be used to generate income and create jobs,” she said. You can go ahead to apply here.( http://www.aecfafrica.org/) The deadline for the applications is Thursday, April 29, 2021.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The “Lab Innova for Tunisia 2021” initiative launches actions to develop innovative collaborative projects between Italy and Tunisia in order to build a common startup ecosystem. Funded by the Made in Italy Extraordinary Plan, the project is managed by ICE — the Agency for the Promotion Abroad and Internationalization of Italian Companies — in cooperation with the Italian Embassy in Tunis and in partnership with the local counterparts Smart Tunisia, Smart Capital, Smart Tunisian Technoparks, Sousse Competitiveness Pole and Sidi Thabet Pole.
Startups
Here Is What You Need To Know
The project is part of an integrated development path for 20 Tunisian startups operating in technological innovation of products and services that can lead to partnerships in areas of common interest such as robotics, agritech & smart agriculture, MedTech and ICT (Blockchain, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence).
In Africa, the Lab Innova format has already been implemented in Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique and Uganda, generally for small and medium enterprises and with a focus on Agritech.
For the first time, given the unique situation of Tunisia, a country with a better structured production scenario, the project will focus more on startups and more strategic sectors.
Tunisia recently approved measures to encourage startups to generate innovation and launch new talent. These measures led to the Startup Act 2018, which developed the legal framework for Tunisian startups, and subsequently for financial tools to help startups through different phases of development, such as the Fund of Funds program. Although the Tunisian startup ecosystem is still in its infancy, several examples of excellence make Tunisia one of the most innovative countries in Africa.
A total of 20 startups among those selected and certified will have access to specialized training.
“The spirit of the project”— declared Donatella Iaricci, director of the ICE — Agency in Tunis — will be to create the conditions for development according to uniform models to consolidate commercial and industrial collaboration relations between Italy and Tunisia, “especially in highly technological sectors ”.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Barely 4 months after Nigerian digital bank, Kuda, secured $10m seed round (Africa’s biggest ever seed funding round so far) the startup has gone ahead to secured a $25m Series A.
“We want to bank every African on the planet, wherever you are in the world,” CEO Babs Ogundeyi said in an interview during its last fund raise. “We have built the core banking services in-house so we own the full stack. It means we don’t have to piggy back on another financial institution. We may choose to partner on certain products but we don’t have to.”
Kuda CEO, Babs Ogundeyi. Image credits: Kuda
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The investment was led by Valar Ventures, the company co-founded and backed by Peter Thiel, with Target Global and other undisclosed investors joining in.
Kuda plans to use the new funds to broaden its credit offerings, grow business services, add more integrations, and expand into new markets.
The funding will also go to expanding to other countries.
In November, 2020, Kuda raised $10 million seed led by EU-based giant VC Target Global, with Entrée Capital and SBI Investment (once part of the defunct SoftBank) also participating. Other participating investors include Raffael Johnen (founder of Auxmoney), Johan Lorenzen (founder of Holvi), Brandon Krieg/Ed Robinson (founders of Stash), and Oliver and Lish Jung (angel investors in Nubank, Revolut, and Chime).
In 2019, the startup also raised Kuda raised $1.6 million pre-seed funding investment led by investor Haresh Aswani with Ragnar Meitern and other angel investors joining.
Why The Investors Invested
A Bank With A Different Touch, Executing Quickly
“The emergence of digital challenger banks, providing customers with a free, digital and significantly better banking experience compared to services offered by traditional banks, has seen huge success across the globe,” said Dr. Ricardo Schäfer, Partner at Target Global, in a statement, last year. “Kuda is one of Africa’s leading digital challenger banks and one of the fastest growing fintechs on the continent. We are very excited to be working with Babs, Musty and the entire Kuda team to further build on the fantastic momentum they have had since inception and support them in taking the company to the next level.”
Since launching in September 2019, Kuda has reportedly picked up around 650,000 customers — first consumers and now also small businesses — and processed about $2.2 billion transactions in February 2021. To understand the scale of this traction, even with over 500 branches and business offices in all states in Nigeria, Nigeria’s Zenith Bank Plc, one of the country’s largest banks by market cap (₦4.83 trillion as at 2017), and largest bank by customer deposit, still has less than 2 million accounts, more than 30 years after it commenced business in Nigeria.
Peter Thiel’s company, Valar Ventures, was co-founded and is funded by him. Valar has previously funded a number of fintech companies, including N26, TransferWise, Stash, and, most recently, BlockFi and BitPanda. This is the first time Valar has backed an African startup.
Kuda is a Lagos and London-based company. In 2019, it launched the beta version of its online mobile finance platform. The startup has also received its banking license from the Nigerian Central Bank, giving it a distinction compared to other fintech startups.
Kuda offers checking accounts with no monthly-fees, a free debit card, and plans to offer consumer savings and P2P payments options on its platform in coming months.
“You can open a bank account within five minutes, do all the KYC in the app, and you get issued a new bank account number,” said Ogundeyi.
Kuda was co-founded in 2018 by Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, a former Stanbic Bank software developer who exited classifieds platform Motortradertrader.ng and served in a finance advisory position for the Nigerian government. Nigeria was Africa’s largest economy and most populous country in 2014, according to the United Nations (with 190 million people).
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Africa’s leading philanthropy dedicated to empowering African entrepreneurs, will close applications for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme on its TEFConnect digital platform (www.TEFConnect.com) on March 31. This year’s intervention prioritizes the economic recovery of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and young African entrepreneurs, following the Covid-19 disruption to economic activities.
Director of Partnerships & Communications at the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Somachi Chris-Asoluka
To address the unique challenges arising from the pandemic, lift millions out of poverty and create sustainable employment across the continent, the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme will empower over 3,500 young African entrepreneurs in collaboration with global partners.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which celebrated ten years of impact in 2020, is empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. Successful applicants receive a world-class business training, mentorship, non-refundable seed capital up to $5,000, and global networking opportunities. The Programme is open to entrepreneurs across Africa, both new start-ups and existing young businesses, operating in any sector.
According to the Director of Partnerships & Communications at the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, “Africa’s growing, and active youth population must take advantage of this opportunity and apply for the programme before the 31st of March, as their full participation will create a pathway to economic prosperity. This year, we have the capacity to empower more African entrepreneurs than ever, further ensuring that they have adequate training, funding and mentorship to boost their performance. It is time for young African entrepreneurs to embrace this much-needed support system to enable thriving and sustainable economic activity. We believe we will continue to see exponential change in sectors across the continent”.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $100million Entrepreneurship Programme, launched in 2015 to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs over 10 years, is now entering its 7th year and has empowered, to date, over 9,000 young African entrepreneurs from 54 African countries.
Prospective applicants should apply on the digital networking hub for African entrepreneurs, www.TEFConnect.com.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
If there will be a scaled up intra and inter-African trade with the commencement of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), the need for a seamless connection between the buyers and suppliers, but beyond this, businesses need access to working capital cannot be underestimated. To this end, Plendify a Ghanaian-based fintech startup is changing this narrative by solving access to working capital for businesses on the African continent and creating strong local supply chains in Africa.
Michael Manirakza, COO, (Rwanda) and co-founder, Plendify
The startup which is a Plendify B2B Marketplace allows users to find local suppliers, wholesalers, and manufacturers in Ghana and they want to expand beyond the shores of Ghana to other African countries. Established in 2018 in Toronto, Canada by the trio of Beau Sackey, CEO, (Ghana) Michael Manirakza, COO, (Rwanda) and Roger Vandomme (France) who is based in Ivory Coast Plendify has co-founders with complementary skill sets across finance, data Science and technology wanted to build a scalable and impactful business in Africa to eventually support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
According to Beau, “initially, our business was focused on fintech lending. As a result, we partnered with a large Ghanaian bank to roll out our proprietary credit adjudication platform – PlendScoreTM”. Beau explained that Plendify’s thesis was and has always been about supporting businesses.
“So, our partnership with the bank was anchored on providing working capital loans to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) efficiently, quickly, and with minimal risk.”
Down the line, the Co-founders realized that the bank’s partnership had all the characteristics of a long enterprise sale cycle, and for a startup, this was a big risk. This realization led the trio to make a decision about pivoting the business model to center around Plendify’s execution of a marketplace platform for SMBs. Thus Plendify in addition to its fintech product began building an e-commerce B2B Marketplace platform in late 2019.
According to Beau, the B2B market in Ghana is primarily offline as there are more than 3 million SMBs in that mode, and of these offline businesses, well over half a million are suppliers. Suppliers in this sense mean wholesalers, distributors, local manufacturers and importers.
“Based on extensive research (both primary and secondary research) we came to realize that over 90% of all businesses in Ghana, irrespective of size, spend countless hours searching (offline) for affordable, reliable and trusted suppliers. The net effect of this is wasted time, poor quality and over-spending.”
Plendify’s B2B Marketplace is changing the narrative by squarely addressing the issues previously highlighted.
“We do this in a variety of ways. Firstly, we get close to our supplier base and we onboard them as suppliers on our platform.
Part of our onboarding process requires minimal checks and validations that are done to ensure that we are only bringing onto our marketplace – businesses/suppliers that are verified. We are also providing our suppliers with tools like online payments and national delivery, in essence providing our supplier base with broader access to markets and increased visibility.”
Beau explained that what Plendify has seen in the competitive landscape is that players in the space are focused on the consumer buyer and not on the business buyer. Plendify has also chosen to be dominant in categories that traditional e-commerce players are not dominant in, for example, Food & Beverage, Beauty & Cosmetics, Agriculture & Farming to name a few. Plendify B2B Marketplace is available on all platforms including Android, Apple, and the Web.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Fast rising food ordering and restaurant and restaurant aggregator platform Koinz has raised a US$4.8 million seed funding round to grow its team and expand across the Middle East region. A brainchild of three friends, Hussein Momtaz, Ahmed Said and Abdullah Al Khalidi, Koinz was founded in 2018 by Koinz to help restaurants make smarter business decisions and increase revenue using a data-driven approach. The platform allows restaurants to collect and track real-time data on customer behaviour, improve customer satisfaction and leverage a digital rewarding system.
Hussein Momtaz, Ahmed Said and Abdullah Al Khalidi, Koinz co-founders
Koinz has now secured a US$4.8 million seed round, which is led by Tinder founder Justin Mateen and also features 4DX Ventures and strategic angel investors from Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Already active in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Koinz will use the funds to grow its team and fuel further expansion across the Middle East.
“Restaurants in the region are suffering under the traditional aggregator model, especially during the pandemic. Koinz is offering a unique tech platform that goes beyond an aggregator tool and has quickly become a win-win for both consumers and restaurant owners across the Middle East,” said 4DX managing partner Peter Orth.
“Restaurants can now for the first time ever “see” all of their interactions with consumers across both offline and online touchpoints, which is a huge benefit during the pandemic when in-person visits were limited and therefore customer acquisition would have typically been lost. I think Hussein and his team have the ability to reshape the future of the region’s on-demand food and beverage industry in the coming years.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
In a move many claim is suggestive of the general acceptance of Bitcoin as mode of transaction, the Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot is launching more than 100 new bitcoin (BTC, +4.22%) ATMs in the U.S saying that it has doubled the number of its crypto kiosks in the last six months.
In a press release Wednesday, the company said it is launching 115 kiosks across 24 U.S. states including 14 in Alabama, 13 in Minnesota, 12 in Florida and 12 in California in coming weeks.
Bitcoin ATMs
Bitcoin Depot said it has doubled its number of crypto ATMs in the last six months and now has 2,000 ATMs globally. Users can buy bitcoin, litecoin (LTC, +1.14%) and ethereum (ETH, +1.53%) via the firm’s kiosks.
“Cryptocurrency offers a lot of opportunities for people [who] don’t have access to traditional financial services, like banks,” said the fim’s president and CEO, Brandon Mintz.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
The idea of using business to solve major social and environmental problems is a global phenomenon. More and more innovative social impact enterprises are set up in droves to positively impact communities and improve the quality of life through responsible and socially engaged business practices.
To further enable other passionate and purpose-driven non-profit leaders who have innovative ideas that can make a real difference, the Elevate Prize is inviting applicants from around the world.
Elevate Prize
What’s the Elevate Prize?
Powered by MIT Solve, a marketplace for social innovation, the Elevate Prize was launched to empower innovators and activists, and dramatically amplify their impact – not only through financial support but by building powerful platforms that resonate across the globe.
The initiative plans to deepen the impacts of change-makers, igniting a chain reaction of problem-solving, giving, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and activism on a grand scale.
Eligibility requirements
To qualify, applicants must:
Be 18 years of age or older;
Be affiliated with a legally established entity (formed under U.S. law, or the law of their country of residence).
Have a high proficiency in spoken and written English (submissions are in English)
Have a scalable enterprise with a track record of impact
Screening criteria
Applications are evaluated, then scored based on the following parameters:
Proven impact, the enterprise must have a track record of success.
Feasibility, including a plan for financial sustainability
Scalability, with significant future impact planning.
Capability, including demonstration of necessary skills.
Partnership potential, allowing for significantly larger audiences.
Prize
10 exceptional winners will be awarded US$5 million in grant funding and services.
Deadline
Applications open till Wednesday, May 5, 2021. If you’d like to apply for the Elevate Prize 2021, visit their website.
For further information about the prize including preferred areas of focus, and some ideas about what is looked for in potential winners, visit this page.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
